Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Like Cheesesteaks, Pedro?

Pedro Martinez will fly to Philadelphia today to take a physical tomorrow, a source confirmed.

If Martinez passes, expect him to sign with the Phillies in the next few days.

The Phillies watched Martinez throw twice last week at the team’s baseball academy in the Dominican Republic. They came away impressed enough that they consider him an upgrade to a rotation whose 4.98 ERA is the third-worst in the National League.

But it would seem Martinez won’t be moving into the Phillies rotation immediately after the All-Star break. He has not pitched this season, so he likely would need to build up arm strength in the Minor Leagues first.

And like I have written before, the Phillies still plan to pursue Roy Halladay.

When could Martinez be introduced at a news conference, assuming everything continues to go well? Well, it is very unlikely to happen today or tomorrow. Why? It’s All-Star week and MLB does not want anything taking away from the game and festivities. So I would guess Wednesday or Thursday.

Signing Pedro is a low risk gamble. The only question I have is whose place does he take once he does what ever he does by going to the minors first? I am so tired of hearing these get Halladay at any cost skreeds. The Phillies do not need Halladay to take the division. In my opinion is the Phillies already have the division. The next question is whether or not Halladay will guarantee the Phillies another WS win? The Astros probably thought the same thing when they obtained Randy Johnson and it didn’t work out. The Brewers probably thought the same thing when they got Sabbathia and we all know how that turned out. On the other hand the Phillies got Moyer and Blanton and, again, we know how these deals turned out. Moderation is the key to any endeavor. As a long time fan who has followed the Phillies for several decades, the most telling thing the Phillies have done which indicate to me that they are committed

to winning wass eating part of Thome’s contract and the last year of both Jenkin’s and Eaton’ contracts. Unless you have been around a while you do not realize what a sea change in team philosophy these moves represent. Finally, management which realizes that on field success begets fans which begets money which begets better players which begets more on field success which bets fans which begets money….ad infinitum.

Still stick with my same feelings on this, i don’t think his pitching abilities will matter much, I think his attitude and character is going to play the biggest role, and i think that will affect other players too….. I Do NOT think he is Philly material….
Outside the Phillies Looking In.http://devilabrit.mlblogs.com

The question already raised is still the questino, who does fat Pedro replace? Obviously Hamels, Happ, Blanton are secure. This leaves Moyer and flavor of month. DO we think that the Fatman is better then a healthy Lopez/Bastardo? I’m not convinced.

Obviously he won’t be with the team next year when we have a rotation of either:
Hamels, Happ, Drabek, Blanton, Myers (signed to a 1 year arbitratino contract) or

Hamels, Halladay, Happ/Drabek (the one not traded) Blanton, Moyers (they won’t eat Moyers 6 million is they sign Halladay and they won’t startthe year with 2 rookies in the rotation)

Pedro Martinez is a HOF pitcher who knows his way around a major league bump. The key to this signing is building up his arm strength to the point of being able to go to the 6th and 7th inning. Otherwise, there is no real gain.

Pedro becomes the fifth spot in the rotation, so I really have no problem with this. If it is the final solution for the rotation going into the postseason, I’m not so sold.

Lopez is still on the active roster and Walker is the last guy in the bullpen. Pedro would likely replace one of those guys. Probably Lopez. They could possibly lose him on waivers if they option him out, so Pedro better be the real deal.

Jamie Moyer appears to be the fly in the ointment. If he can not start, he can not do anything else. Sure he is winning as long as he keeps the runs he allows below what the Phillies offense can produce. In a less potent offense he probably would be history. His is probably the next contract the Phillies are going to have to eat. But eating his contract is probably a lot cheaper than what a Halladay deal eventually may cost the Phillies. I am not saying the Phillies should get rid of Moyer by any means. But if I were running things Moyer would be on thinner ice than the average Phillie fan might think him to be.

pherrisphain: Signing Moyer to a 2-year deal was post-World Series sentiment that comes when you stop thinking. Maybe they felt that letting him walk would have been bad PR, but I thought they should have FedEx’ed him his WS ring and said “thanks for your effort.”
If they have Moyer and Pedro in the rotation, the bullpen will be a dust pile by Labor Day. No other pitchers on the staff will be allowed to struggle.
Besides, doesn’t baseball have enough 5-inning pitchers already? It’s borderline sickening.

muleman………………..Actually the Phillies signed Moyer to a two year contact in January 2008. Rather than post-World Series sentiment, I chalk it up to post-play off euphoria not unlike the old that when sitting in a bar at closing time, there ain’t no ugly women.

pherrisphain, I really don’t mind Moyer being in the rotation during the regular season. He’s probably better than most #4-5 starters in the league. BTW, that’s an indictment on the state of the league, not Moyer.

My problem is with Moyer being one of the top 4 guys needed to pitch in the postseason. That could be a disaster in a short series if the top 3 guys are Hamels, Blanton and Happ. They really need Halladay. I just heard a report on ESPN 950 that the biggest stumbling block from the Phillies end is the balance of Halladay’s 2009 salary. Supposedly they are well past their acceptable budget. Considering that they are over 100% capacity at CBP this season, that is disconcerting information.

phan52…………..I stand corrected on the Moyer contract so muleman was right is was post-WS sentiment. I have no problem with Hamels, Happ, Blanton. This is any worse than Hamel, Myer, Blanton from last year? Look where that got us.

Getting back to Pedro, though, the only upside I can think of is that his attitude is so “me-first” that it will act as a motivator to prove everyone wrong and pitch well for the Phils. We all saw what Manny did once he got to L.A. last year and was playing for a big contract. If this is an opportunity for Pedro to get back in the bigs, it might pay dividends for the team who takes a chance on him.

Obviously Flavor of week (Bastardo/Lopez/my mother-n-law) is the person fat ugly Pedor replaces. Moyer isn’t going anywhere this year. However, I don’t think the Phils will have to eat his contract. Jamie is the kind of guy who if he doesn’t think he can do the job will hang them up and go home unlike Eaton who is still getting paid and demanded his ring.

The questin is do we like Fat Pedro more then we like Bastardo/Lopez/Carlos/Carpenter etc? While one on one he may be better (though I’m not convinved) he will not be better then then the hot one of these guys. I like the idea of bringing up a kid, pitching him until he gets cold and then bringing up someone else etc. Gives them experience, allows us to see what they’re made of, and lets’ be real, we will win the division in any case and the #5 doesn’t pitch in the playoffs except as a long reliever in a blow out.

I promise that I will call fat pedro fat pedro even if he wins 30 games for the Phils this year. For the record, I was one of the guys who was in favor of signing Raul from day one and didn’t care that he was “too old” a “bad fielder” or left handed. I just don’t see any upside to signing pedro when we have so many prospects ready to pitch in the majors. Why have them if you won’t trade them and won’t use them? Is there a reward for having the best farm system never used?

It’s only a matter of time before everyone jumps on the Pedro band wagon. If I remember correctly, during the offseason, there were certain Phillies fans who thought that Raul Ibanez was old, a liability in the outfield, and an inadequate replacement for Pat Burrell. By the way, what happened to those guys?

Anyway, it’s only a matter of time before “fat ugly Pedro” becomes “Pedro of Lore”.

f-i-j re: 1:59pm post: Not only do you have the heart and soul of a true believer and phan…you are a good judge of character. And, please keep spell-check disabled on your computer — your posts are always really funny — intentional or not!

f-i-j: #8 is GR8! We love da Flyin’ Hawaiian here, brah. Our sports fans in the islands get treated to the daily update on Vic/League/Suzuki by Robert Kekaula at KITV4. Love having the ability to watch the games live on MLB.com since we’re so far away from home. I’m a few years older than Jamie Moyer and remember watching him play Little League w/my kid brothers. He truly is a class act along with many other Phillies players and their coaches. I think a lot of kids in the Philly area have been blessed to have some great role models to look up to and that is why character is important on a team. I like that Amaro and Co. put that first — good stuff usually follows.

ZO…we need your help! While everyone is salivating over Halladay (I admit I want him too), there is another deal that makes alot of sense. Oswalt has played very well this last month lowering his era to 3.85. He is actually younger (31) than Halladay, will not cost as much, has a solid career G/F @ 1.00 and we match up real well with Houston. The Stros need a future SS (Donald) a corner outfield prospect (Taylor) and an upper tier pitching prospect (Carrasco). We can even give them a native Houstonian (Kendrick). I also like Keppinger their reserve infielder. He is 29, bats right and is hitting .273 at the break. We can do all of this without giving up Happ, Drabek, Knapp or Brown. Tell Wade to take back Bruntlett and we’ll call it a day! Thoughts?

Jen, Another ex-pat Phila region person. Great to see there are so many of us. I don’t get MLB.com here (don’t ask) but thankfully there are highlights on ESPN, and the ocaisonal game, too. I’m just under Jamie in age, and still remember game 6 of the 1980 serries and black Friday. I was at both games as a kid. Missed the 93 serries and of course, last years. Wish I could get back for this year’s as I smell a repeat in the air, with or without Halladay

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